Steer euthanized after Stampede wrestling event|video

A steer had to be euthanized at the rodeo on day nine, July 12, 2014, of the Calgary Stampede.

A steer is dead at the Calgary Stampede after suffering a serious neck injury in the steer wrestling event.

The black steer had been drawn by Casey Martin of Sulphur, La., who wrestled it in 4.3 seconds during Saturday’s wild card qualifying round — the second-last day of the Stampede.

When the animal did not get up, the animal medical crew followed the Calgary Stampede incident response protocol, assembled tarps to secure the scene, analyzed the situation, and tended to the steer.

Greg Evans, head veterinarian for the rodeo and chuckwagons, was forced to euthanize the animal after transporting it on a stretcher to a triage area.

“It was a surprise to see that steer not get up,” Evans said. “It appeared to be a normal run. There was no abnormal conditioning of the animal at the time of the fall. When the animal doesn’t rise and the steer wrestler knows something is up ... sometimes it’s a horn stuck in the dirt which is what Casey thought at first. As soon as he realizes that, he’s calling for assistance.”

Evans said after discussing the situation and the run with rodeo committee members on site and other competitors, he noted there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary that happened with Martin’s run.

“It was one of those surprising, rare instances where something didn’t go right,” he said. “We do ask those questions as we’re assessing the scene and transporting the animal.”

The steer, which was supplied by stock provider Doug Wilkinson, was the first animal to be euthanized at the 2014 Stampede.

Martin said the run was normal and he felt bad after the incident.

“The steer kind of stepped into me a little bit, kind of turned, so I really tried to pick him up and lifted off my hip so he’d hit (the ground) clean and he did,” he explained. “I don’t really know how that happened or what happened to him.

“But it wasn’t a very good deal for anybody ... nobody likes to see them get hurt.”

Later in the event, the steer of Highmore, S.D., native Jake Rinehart appeared injured after his 5.3-second run. However, the animal rose to its feet and trotted out of the infield on its own.

Evans reported that steer was in good condition, despite leaving the arena a bit lame and the Stampede will continue to monitor it.

“I checked him about two minutes after the event,” he said. “He recovered fully, so good news there.”

Fellow steer wrestler Bray Armes of Ponder, Texas, who also competed on Saturday said the incident was rare for their sport.

“You don’t hardly see anything like that,” he said. “That was just a freak deal. We still ain’t really sure what happened.

“Nothing bad happened (with the run) there and it was just a freak deal.”

He said there was a sense of devastation among the competitors.

“(The animals), they’re like our family,” he said. “So, I mean, for one of them to go down it’s just like almost a member in the family. We take care of our animals. Without them, we can’t do our jobs.

“It kind of hits you in the gut. Especially on a run like that, nothing weird happened. It was good run, just a freak deal. You see that very, very rarely.”

Martin has been steer wrestling for 17 years and said he has only seen it happen one other time.

“Very rare,” he said. “I mean, we take care of our horses and cows like we do our kids.

“I wanted to help do anything I could that’s why I held him down and tried to make sure he was all right. I was definitely there to help him out.”

Last year, a steer turned over by Zane Hankel of Redcliff, Alta., had to be put down after suffering untreatable injuries.

Evans said Saturday’s incident was similar.

It was the third time in a decade that an animal has been fatally injured in the Stampede steer wrestling event. After a steer died in 2009, the Stampede instituted a “dog fall rule” that requires the cowboy to stop instantly if a steer falls in an awkward, potentially dangerous way (such as with its legs splayed out). The Stampede said that wasn’t the case in this situation.

Evans added that the animal was inspected prior to the event and showed no signs of complications.

At the Stampede, there is a 180-kilogram minimum weight for the steers and they are weighed daily.

A post-mortem will not be performed, as Evans determined the injuries were self-evident and do not require further investigation.

“We’ll review the rules of steer wrestling and examine our internal practices for anything that can or should be changed, the Stampede will work on doing that,” Evans said. “Our protocol is to analyze as many pieces of the incident as we can and make decisions and recommendations from there.”

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